I would say VG. Most come very worn since the ray denoted lower silver content, so any hoarding would be older ones. Always in high demand, though, due to Type collectors.
I thought all 3 varieties had the same silver content? Does the rays & arrows Variety 2 have less silver content ?
Arrow andnrays and arrows all have same silver content. Non-arrows 1853 and previous issues had more silver. It was a function of the CA gold rush. So much gold made silver relatively more expensive, and our silver coins overvalued. The arrows issue later denoted just the opposite, the Comstock load had made silver cheaper and we added silver to coins in the 1870's. Kind of cool actually, having numismatic evidence of these two massive mining finds.
Under the old school grading I learned under, it doesn't have at least three letters of LIBERTY so it won't make VG. The rim is just about gone on the reverse above UNITED so it barely has full rims. I'd call it a G-6
Fair points sir, and I like to be old school or conservative as well. I looked at those you mentioned, but when looking at other strengths that a G coin will usually not have I netted out to VG. VG-8 in modern terms, but VG nonetheless.
